 In this video, we'll explore the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, MAHN, which contains one of the greatest archaeological collections in the world. This is an introduction to that collection and its history on the occasion of the reopening of the Roma Campania section after 50 years, and on the occasion of the new Alexander the Great exhibit ongoing this summer, 2023. The collection took shape under the Borobone King Fernando I, who greets you in the museum today. Here depicted in the guise of Minerva, this statue was created by the famous sculptor Antonia Konova in the early 1800s. The collection consists of three main components that we'll explore today. 1. Awesome pieces collected by the Borobone Kings direct from the excavations of the Vesuvian cities as they were unearthed. They removed the artifacts, they also cut out some of the most extraordinary frescoes and mosaics on display here today. 2. Artwork from Maina Grecia, the incredible Greek sites from southern Italy, from Vesus to tomb paintings. 3. Artwork from the Farnese Collection, acquired by the Borobones through marriage to the Farnese family that eventually extinguished. So as a result, that collection, that amazing collection, which contains some of the most important sculptures ever found in Rome during the Renaissance times, were brought down all of it from Rome to Naples where they're on display today. The museum tour begins with prehistory of Campania before diving into early Greek Naples and a newly opened section focuses exclusively on Maina Grecia, the southern Italy colonized by Greek cities, including Naples itself. You can peruse this enormous collection with an array of vases found mostly in tombs and of course your experience is heightened by the fact that you have all of these incredible mosaics and opus sectulae pavements, this one's from Villa de Pippaity, in the actual hallways. So it's an added pleasure that then you can examine and enjoy the Samnite warriors here, from a tomb from Nola dating to 330 to 320 BC. This is one of the most famous paintings of the Samnites. Here we have from Ruva the tomb of the dancers. Dating to the late 5th century BC, these women are encircling the deceased in a ritual procession. In the section in daily life, we can enjoy the richer ray of silverware from the House of Menander in Pompeii. We have bronze silver pans, ivory plaques, in this case with scenes of the rape of Persephone, bronze keys, bronze tweezers, bronze compasses and a plum bomb. And then we have the section devoted to glass. The world revolution was of glass blowing in the 1st century BC, and we can start right here with the famous cameo blue vase in the shape of an amphora from Pompeii. This is a rare painted portrait of glass. There's a section devoted to gladiators. Here are the helmets that were found in the barracks of the gladiators in Pompeii. You have a whole section devoted to the cult of Isis. These various frescoes were found in the sanctuary of Isis in Pompeii, narrating the veneration of the Egyptian goddess. There's a huge area devoted to frescoes that are found from many Vesuvian cities, from Bosco Reale. You have still lifes. Here's a representation of a glass bowl. We have countless portraits of real Roman men and women. But they're captivating gazes. And of course, we have so many mythological scenes. Whole rooms are reproduced. We also have individual segments preserved. And even frescoes that are framed with molded stucco, enhancing the architectural component of the wall. Putting it all together, we have an amazing model of Pompeii that helps us then locate these ripped out frescoes in their original context in Pompeii. There's a section devoted entirely to the villa of the papayate that was found just outside of Herculaneum. The probable owner is this man, Lucius Copernius Piso, the father-in-law of Julius Caesar. The villa takes its name from the carbonized papayate you see one here that was part of the library within the villa. And the real standout feature isn't just the bronze and marble statue, they have so much of it. But it's the fact that the excavators at the time in the middle of the 18th century actually recorded where they were found exactly within the villa. And these portraits are amazing. Of course, we don't know who they all were, but scholarship has helped us make a lot of educated guesses on which ruler, which statement, which philosopher, and more that we're looking at. This section is devoted to mosaics. And you have extraordinary examples, some famous copies of lost works of art. Some images you recognize because they appear in television shows. And really they are extraordinary because of the quality, because of the craftsmanship, because of the subject matter. And this section then is devoted to the greatest mosaics unearthed in the Vesuvian cities. A lot of them are maritime in their theme. The real standout in the collection is the artwork from the House of the Fawn. This is the largest house in Pompeii, 3,000 square meters. And it has a coordinated mosaic collection. And the real standout feature within the entire house is of course the Alexander Mosaic, which is a copy of a lost work of art. And it was placed in the floor of a dining room area, triclinium. What we have here is seen of one of the great battles fought in one by Alexander the Great against the Persian king Darius. With the reopening after 50 years of this large segment of the museum called Campania Romana, you get a chance to really enjoy some of the treasures of the national collection, particularly pieces from Herculaneum, Pompeii, Puteili. You really go around the Vesuvian cities and you get some of the finest works of art. Frescoes, bronze statuary, marble statuary, sarcophagi, reliefs, so much more, giving us great insights into the lives of the people of the Roman Empire here in Campania Romana. There's an incredible amount of bronze statuary from Herculaneum on display. And you have also from Herculaneum this quadriga statue with chariot appliques, and it's now on display for the first time. So we get a sense of the former quadriga, the four horse chariot, but also the decoration of the chariot itself. Such a grand collection of sarcophagi. And of course we have artwork from Capua in Campania. This hall is dedicated to more artwork from Pompeii, and the standard on the right is the Apollo archer from the Temple of Apollo in Pompeii. And the colossal statue here is Jupiter Optimus Maximus from Cumi, another important Campania city. These two figures with the paint still preserved were found in the Shrine in the McKellum, originally identified as Julio-Claudian figures that are actually today considered to be prominent Pompeians. And finally these two colossal seated figures, they come from the Augustaum of Herculaneum. Now we'll take a look at the Farnese collection starting with this colossal statue of Alexander Severus from Rome originally. There's a lot of important Greek art depicted from the Farnese collection. Here are the tyrannocides. It's a second century AD copy of the original early classical tyrant slayers. Here's the incredible Tatsu Farnese, Sardonx Agate Cameo, without parallel. We pass on to the statuary from the Bazar Caracalla, part of the Farnese collection. Here's the myth of the punishment of Dursey that was once in one of the grand spaces of the Bazar Caracalla, dating to the beginning of the third century AD. This is an extraordinary work of art, of colossal scale. It had to be colossal because it was fitting into enormous spaces of the Bazar Caracalla, so to the weary Hercules. This is a copy of the lost weary or resting Hercules by Lysippus. Again the scale is enormous. Here are two river gods that come from the temple of Isis in the Campus Martius in Rome and here's a kneeling barbarian Parthian probably dating to the time of Augustus. These are the provincial reliefs from the temple of Hadrian in the Campus Martius. There's also a collection for numismatics in economic life. Here we have a dry measure counter and bronze scales. There's a whole section devoted to erotic art. It's the Gabinetto Socretto and we've made a video on it that you can check out, Sex and the Ancient World. Finally there's an epigraphic collection including a huge segment of art of italic peoples. There's signage from Pompeii. There are also rare oscan inscriptions. We are so pleased to speak with the man director Paolo Giulierini and we spoke about the new initiatives of the man and ways to engage the public at large and especially the youth. And on the occasion of the new ongoing exhibit on Alexander the Great and the East on the direction of the preeminent archaeologist Filippo Corelli on going through the summer we're going to spend more time looking at this exhibition in a future video. Thanks for watching. Be sure to like the video and please support our efforts. We're a US non-profit organization making free content for everyone.